Why Are We So Dumb?

Why did Hashem make us so cognitively restricted? Even computers today are way smarter and know so much more than the smartest human. Our ability to retain, process, and think deeply into issues is so limited. We can barely learn a blat gemara without getting tired, and we're light years away from understanding the secrets of the Torah. How can Hashem write in the Torah that “it’s not in the Heavens and not over the sea?” Even those very few who have very sharp minds and excellent memories don't come close to the data retention and processing capabilities of today’s AI. And when it comes to the spiritual realm, even those who do reach some divine level of comprehension in the secrets of the Torah can never truly grasp its depth. Dovid Hamelech who said all of Tehillim with Ruach Hakodesh, every word of which holds the deepest secrets, said Pliya Das Mimeni, nisgava lo uchal la. And Shlomo, the wisest of all men said, Amarti Echkema vehi rechoka mimeni. If we are really the pinnacle of Creation, why are we so limited?

Perhaps the answer is that it's not about knowledge or wisdom, because that is truly infinite. Lesvunaso Ein Mispar. And infinity is never reachable. Even if Hashem had created us with the fastest, deepest thinking brains that never forgot anything and could tie all knowledge together, we would still not scratch the surface of Hachachma Me'ayin Timatze.

So what is the exact amount of sechel and daas that Hashem needed the pinnacle of creation to have in order to achieve His goals? I believe it is the ability to know that we don’t know. Chachma = Koach Mah.

Animals don’t know that they don’t know. Children don’t know that they don’t know. But mature human beings who have studied enough and learned enough about both the physical & spiritual worlds were given the unique ability to comprehend that we don’t know anything at all. And that is the precise level of cognitive abilities that Hashem desired for Man to be able to achieve.

And this is the ultimate purpose of Torah study. Not to know, but to know that we don’t know, and thereby continuously appreciate Hashem’s greatness more and more, commensurate with the extent we see we don’t know. The deeper we go, the more we see we don’t know, and the greater Hashem is in our eyes. And the greater He is to us, the more pleasure we get from serving Him. And it’s that pleasure that Hashem ultimately wants us to have.

So although the end-game in the World to Come is the light of Chachma, perhaps that is only a channel for the real goal; namely, the perception of Hashem’s greatness. The greater Hashem is in our eyes, the more pleasure we will have in giving Him pleasure (through receiving the light of Chachma for His sake). And it’s that pleasure Hashem wants us to have.